LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he will not allow criticism from the club's major shareholder Alisher Usmanov to distract him, as he continues to fend off criticism following a poor start to the season.
Usmanov took to CNBC this week to suggest Wenger was not learning from his mistakes and suggested his age may be a factor in his refusal to change his ways, but the Arsenal boss cheerfully brushed off questions about the comments made by the billionaire investor who owns more than 30 percent of the club.
"In the 18 years I am here, I have shown that I can take criticism," Wenger told a news conference. "Everybody has the right to have an opinion. Having said that, we have values at this club and the first one is when you go through a difficult patch, you show solidarity. I think that is a very important one.
"The second one is when you have something to say to each other, you say it face to face. We don't need to go to the newspapers.
"Believe me, I don't take it personally at all. It is an opinion that I respect, but when you are from this club, you are from this club. You are in or out, you cannot be both.
"It is not unhelpful at all and honestly, I don't give it a big importance. We know the rules of the game. We know how it works. What is important is how close we are together inside the club and how much we can respond to people who question our quality.
"I personally feel there is a very strong bond inside the team and the club and that this team will have a very strong season. I am willing to bet with you on that."
Wenger was then asked whether newspaper reports that he had held "crisis talks" with Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis were accurate, but he was quick to bat away such suggestions.
"When you such a long time in football like I am, you don't really know what the word crisis means," he continued. "I must get to the dictionary and look at it again.
"I believe in what I do and I believe especially in my players, in their quality and in their spirit. I question myself every day and I hope that you do that as well.
"We don't deny it was a huge disappointment to lose the game on Saturday. I am long enough in the game to know that you play well and lose, you get flooded with critics. You play a very bad game and win, everyone says how great you are. It is our job to take a distance from that."
The surprisingly upbeat Wenger was joined at his latest news conference by midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who backed up his boss by suggesting there is a collective mood to turn around Arsenal's fortunes.
"We believe in ourselves, we have a great team spirit and we are not too concerned about what is being said about us," said Wales midfielder. "We know what we are capable of doing and it is just some fine tuning to do.
"We know what we are capable of and it is just some fine tuning to do. We had a good game, in my opinion, against Manchester United. We created good opportunities and on another day we would have gone in 3-0 up at half-time and it would have been a different game. It wasn't to be and we have to learn from that.
"It is important not to get too down about it. We played well and we have to continue to play in the way we believe we should play. We are looking forward to the game against Dortmund now."